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April 29th- 2004 (a new FOCUS on Steampunk! a Dreams update and some Reflections additions.) Welcome to the Steampunk Compendium, the ultimate internet domain dedicated to the showcasing of our beloved sub-genre, the ultimate sci-fi/fantasy blending niche... Steampunk. Every month I will showcase a particular example of Steampunk for your viewing pleasure, while providing a growing database of Steampunk appearences across all mediums. - Your Webmaster: Automaton |
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What is Steampunk? Steampunk is Proto-Modern Science Fiction. It is Victorian Science Fiction. It is Alternative History Fiction. It is Scientific Romance. It is Neo-Victorian Imperialist Adventure Tales. It is a rather new sub-genre of Sci-Fi and Fantasy that has early roots in the writings of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, and modern iterations in videogames, anime, comic books, movies and more.. It basically begs the question, "What would the world be like if the 19th Century lasted a couple hundred years longer?" Inventions, contraptions, widgets, gizmos, pistons, pumps and gears dominate this world. According to Wikipedia, "Compared to the computer, robotic, and nanotech focus of cyberpunk fiction, steampunk fiction focuses more intently on thermo mechanics, especially steam engine technology; hence the name." On rare occasions, Steampunk is called by the more general term of Clockpunk. Robots, Flying Machines, and Super Weapons can all exist is Steampunk worlds, although the technology behind them is predominately mechanical, much like Leonardo DaVinci's own designs for tanks and flying machines. WordSpy offers up further clarification, "Steampunk often imagines what the past would have been like if the future hadn't happened so quickly. It imagines, in other words, what engineers and inventors might have come up with if they'd had another, say, one hundred years to tinker with mechanical and steam-powered machines. (Some examples: a steam-powered flamethrower; a spaceship made of steel and wood.) In other cases, steampunk envisions a historical world that has modern elements." Read --- 'The Steampunk Identity",' a letter from The Editor. |
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NAVIGATIONAL COMPASS Dreams of Steampunk |
